Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides hospital quality data on its www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov web site. The rating tool includes information on how well the hospitals in given areas care for their adult patients with certain medical conditions. Hospital Compare was created through the efforts of the CMS and organizations that represent hospitals, doctors, employers, accrediting organizations, other federal agencies and the public.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)

An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Recognized as a symbol of quality, JCAHO provides a service on its website called “Quality Check,” a comprehensive guide to all JCAHO accredited health care organizations. Through Quality Check, visitors are able to search for health care facilities by name or region and compare hospitals on key quality indicators. Quality Check can be found on www.jcaho.org.

The Leapfrog Group

With more than 170 members made up of Fortune 500 companies and other large private and public organizations that provide health benefits, the Leapfrog Group represents 36 million American health care consumers. Its overall mission is to make reporting health care quality and outcomes a routine feature of the U.S. health care system. Through use of a voluntary quality survey, the Leapfrog group gathers and reports information on hospital quality and patient safety efforts. On its website, www.leapfroggroup.org, consumers can search for participating health care organizations by name or region. Scripps Health is a voluntary participant in The Leapfrog Group survey.

Solucient

Solucient publishes an annual “100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success” report in Modern Healthcare magazine and on its website that seeks to objectively identify the highest performing hospitals in the nation and report on that performance. Focused on clinical excellence, operating efficiency, financial health and responsiveness to the community, measures reviewed include patient safety, mortality, complications, length of stay, and growth in patient volume. A complete list of all hospitals named to the 100 Top Hospitals list is available on www.100tophospitals.com.

HealthGrades

A health care rating organization since 1999, Healthgrades provides ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes and physicians to consumers, corporations, health plans and hospitals. Visitors to www.healthgrades.com can find quality ratings of the nation’s 5,000 hospitals and 16,000 nursing homes, as well as in-depth profiles of the nation’s 650,000 physicians.